College at fault for not supervising Bengaluru student who ended his life, say police

Police investigating the suicide of a 19-year-old student on Monday have admitted that the college management is at fault for not supervising the youth.

CCTV footage revealed that Aditya Prabhu leaped from the 8th floor of a building in the PES University campus, where he was a first-year engineering student.

Despite serving a notice to the university, no representatives have come forward to offer a statement or clarification yet, a senior investigating officer told DH.

The FIR filed by Aditya’s father, Girish Prabhu, alleges that an invigilator accused his son of malpractice during the exam and denied him a chance to explain.

Aditya’s phone and belongings were confiscated, leading to harassment and detention in an unsupervised room.

He claimed that staff members present during the incident mentioned that his son was told that it was “better to die than to do such things”, as was also recorded on an Instagram post put up by his mother on the account justiceforadityaprabhu.

The family is disappointed with the narrative of their son being tagged a “cheater” and wishes for that tag to be removed. They express disappointment with the slow pace of the investigation.

“We are asking for the people who harassed him and left him to be punished. They shouldn’t do this to anyone. This should be an example because no teacher or staff should behave like this with any child for whatever reason,” Aditya’s mother, Asha Prabhu, told DH.

In addition, they call for strict procedures to be implemented in colleges nationwide to ensure students are handled with care and supervised until they calm down or a parent arrives.

Despite repeated attempts, PES University management has not responded to DH’s calls for clarification.